Dick Walsh's rare qualities fondly recalled

Dick Walsh was wonderful company and great fun and wrote "uncommonly well", recalled John McGahern at a fond and good-humoured farewell, attended by many colleagues and friends at a ceremony in Mount Jerome Crematorium, Dublin, yesterday.

The writer recalled Dick's response to scaremongering during the divorce referendum when it was said marriage would collapse throughout the country if divorce was allowed.

"The logic of this, Dick Walsh countered, is that if you establish a coronary unit in Limerick, the whole city and country will immediately start having heart attacks."

And he remembered how, in the tradition of "the great Gaelic poets of derision", Dick would chant: "Lovely people. Plenty of money. No manners."

Dick's daughter, Francesca, recalled how "for Mum he was the man she never had a good word to say for, but had a million good thoughts every day."

He was also "the man she was married to for 43 years, give or take time off for bad behaviour." And he was "the man who could get away with calling her Felix after a hurricane which rearranged several southern American states".

His other daughter, Suzanne, read from the Rupert Brooke poem, It's Not Going To Happen Again, holding her daughter, Millie, in her arms.

The editor of The Irish Times, Ms Geraldine Kennedy, said she had known him for 30 years. They had been close colleagues, "which is not to say it wasn't tempestuous at times, when blunt clashed with blunter".

She remembered his support for her during the protracted series of interviews last summer before her appointment as editor. And his shock at the news. "Good God, Geraldine, I've backed losers all my life," he said.

Mr Seamus Dooley, Irish Secretary of the NUJ, remembered " a truly remarkable man". In a reference to absentee Ministers he said he regretted that in today's issue of the paper he would not be able to read Dick "on the campaign to bring home the Cheltenham Two".

Mr Fergus Finlay recalled "an awe-inspiring figure" but hadn't at first realised there was "a far more awe-inspiring figure in that house, too".

On his first visit there Ruth had said: "Look at him . I only took him in because they told me he had three months to live. That was 10 years ago".

As a present for one of his birthdays he had prepared a collection of Dick's writings and presented it to him. It was titled Anti Bloody-Well Everything.

Máire Mangan sang Eamonn an Chnoic, She Moved Through the Fair, and Love's Old Sweet Song. Tom Geraghty sang Raglan Road; Dick's sister, Anne, recited Bán Cnoic Éireann Ó; and Noel Pocock played traditional Clare tunes. And two family friends, Dave and Iseult, spoke of visits to the Walsh household where Dick would sit "looking like a slightly dissolute poodle".

The overflow attendance included the Taoiseach's aide-de-camp, Capt Gerard O'Grady, Dr Garret FitzGerald, Mr Des O'Malley, Mr Prionsias De Rossa, Mr Pat Rabbitte, Ms Joan Burton, Mr Barry Desmond, Mr Pat Magnier, Mr Bernard Durkan, Mr Justin Keating, Dr Brian Farrell, Mr Joe Mulholland, Mr Chris Glennon, Mr Michael Mills, Mr James Downey, Mr Donal Kelly, Mr Joe Fahy, Mr John Foley, Mr Denis Coghlan, Mr John Horgan, and Mr Gerald Barry.

Ms Maeve Donovan, the Irish Times managing director, Ms Mary Kotsonouris, Ms Mary Maher, Mr Louis O'Neill, Mr Una Claffey, Mr Ciarán Mac Mathúna and Mr Sean MacReamoinn were also present.

The Irish ambassador to France, Mr Paddy MacKernan,also attended.

Many colleagues from the Irish Times management and staff were present, as well as people from other newspapers and broadcasting organisations.